Insulated carry bag

ABSTRACT

An insulated carry bag comprising an inner liner bag (2) within an outer cover bag (1) with the open ends of the bags joined to form a neck (3) with neck closure means (5, 6). There is filling a particulate thermally insulating material (4) between the inner and outer bags (1, 2). The inner and outer bags (1, 2) are made of flexible sheet material allowing the carry bag to adopt the shape of an article housed therein and the sheet material and the particulate material (4) are capable of maintaining a static electrical surface charge sufficient to cause the material (4) to adhere to the surfaces of the inner and/or outer bags (1, 2).

This invention relates to carry bags to transport and maintain goodswhich are initially above or below ambient temperature at or close totheir initial temperature.

In the past one form of insulated container for the above purpose hashad a rigid physical form and the heated or chilled goods to betransported have been placed in the container and a closure has beenapplied to isolate the atmosphere within the container from outsideatmospheric conditions. After the closure of the container there is anaveraging-out heat exchange between the goods and the space not occupiedby the goods to provide a temperature within the container different tothat of the outside air and the initial temperature of the goods.

In another form of insulated container, which is general of a "bag"form, flexible but semi-rigid sides of the bag are interconnected byhinge folds allowing the bag to expand to accept large objects andcontract to a smaller size for smaller objects. There is however still alarge amount of unoccupied space within the container when goods arelocated therein and the closure of the container is applied. Again thereis an averaging-out of the temperature of the atmosphere within thecontainer and the goods within the container after the closure thereof.

This invention has as its object the provision of a bag which willsubstantially completed embrace goods housed within it and so minimisethe amount of air within the bag. As there is very little air in the bagthere will be a minimal heat loss or heat gain to the air in the bag andthis ensures that the atmospheric temperature within the bag willclosely approximate that of the goods located therein.

The carry bag as proposed comprises generally an inner bag and an outerwith insulating means therebetween. The inner and outer bags are madefrom soft material. The term soft material as used herein means aflexible sheet material with substantially no body rigidity which can beformed into a bag able to adopt any configuration within the limitsdetermined by its physical shape and size. Soft materials ashereinbefore defined are preferably selected from the group comprisingwoven or non-woven fabric sheet materials and sheet plastics material.Preferably also the inner bag material is waterproof.

Broadly, the present invention can be said to comprise an insulatedcarry bag including an outer bag part made of soft material (ashereinbefore defined) with an opening therein, and an inner bag partmade of soft material (as hereinbefore defined) with an opening therein,the perimeters of the openings in the inner and outer bags are joined toprovide a mouth for the carry bag and closure means for the mouth isprovided whereby the mouth of the carry bag can be substantially closedto isolate the interior of the inner bag part from atmosphere, and aplurality of particles of thermally insulating material between theinner and outer wall parts of the carry bag.

Two presently preferred forms of the invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the carry bag in a mouth closedconfiguration,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view in a mouth open configuration,

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation on the section line 3--3 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 with a bottle housed in the carrybag,

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of an alternate construction, and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings the carry bag comprises an outer bag 1 made ofa soft material as hereinbefore defined and in the present example ismade from plastic coated woven fabric with sewn joints, although weldedor heat sealed joints can be used. Inside the outer bag 1 there is aninner bag 2 made of soft material as hereinbefore defined and in thepresent example is made of laminated polyethylene sheet material againwith sewn joints although welded or heat sealed joints can be used. Theinner bag 2 preferably has a capacity when opened up which is less thanthat of the inner bag 1 as can be readily seen from FIG. 3. The innerand outer bags have openings therein and the peripheries of the openingsare fastened together, as by sewing or adhesive, to form a mouth 3 forthe carry bag. The bag materials may have a limited degree of elasticstretch to facilitate accommodation of irregularly shaped objects placedwithin the carry bag.

There are eyelets 5 around the upper end of the carry bag adjacent themouth thereof. A draw string 6 is provided whereby the mouth of thecarry bag can be closed to retain an object housed within the carry bagor about portion of an object protruding through the mouth of the carrybag, as for example the neck of a bottle.

Housed between the inner and outer bags there is insulation material inthe form of pellets 4. The pellets 4 are preferably of random diameterwithin a predetermined range and are made of foamed polystyrene. Thepellets may however be formed of other materials such as crumbled orgranulated foam plastics material having the qualities of foamedpolystyrene pellets as are hereinafter set out. The number of pellets 4should be such that there is a least sufficient to provide a single skinof pellets about substantially all of the exterior of the inner bag whenan object is housed in the carry bag. In FIG. 3 it will be seen thatthere will be a natural tendency for the pellets to migrate to thebottom section of the carry bag when unoccupied. FIG. 4 indicates how apellet redistribution will take place when an object is positioned inthe carry bag. The redistribution can be likened to a fluid flow of thepellets which will migrate from a zone where pressure is exerted to azone of lesser pressure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternate arrangement where there is anintermediate bag identified 7 with the open ends of the bags 1,2 and 7fixed together to form the carry bag mouth 3. The bag 7 has severaluses. For example, it can be used to separate two zones occupied bypellets 4 thereby providing additional insulation for the carry bagwhilst controlling the location of the pellets in two "skins" around theobject within the carry bag. The bag 7 need not be made of anyparticular material, for example it need not be waterproof. It can be inthe form of a net which is strong and have openings small enough toprevent pellets migrating from one skin to the other. The bag 7 may bemade of inextensible strong material or net and provide the strength ofthe carry bag and relieve the inner and outer bags of the stretchingforces that will occur if a heavy object is transported in the carry bagand it is supported by the draw string 6. With such an arrangement theinner and outer bags could be relatively thin and decorative lightweight material could be used for the outer bag and waterproof lightweight material could be used for the inner bag.

In an alternate arrangement the inner and/or outer bags may havereinforcement strips affixed thereto to provide load support for objectscarried in the carry bag thereby substantially eliminating tension loadson the inner and/or outer bags. The intermediate bag 7 may also be inthe form of a large mesh or grid which will allow free migration of thepellets between the inner and outer bags.

Preferably the material from which the inner and outer bags is made issuch as to have an electrostatic affinity with the pellets 4, as may bepromoted simply by frictional contact between polystyrene pellets andthe inner and outer bags. The electrostatic attraction between thepellets and the material from which the inner and outer bags is madepromotes the formation of a layer of pellets on the outer surface of theinner bag.

As will be understood the form of the carry bag substantially eliminatesunoccupied air space within the carry bag and so there is little heatexchange between an object in the carry bag and the atmosphere withinthe carry bag. This is promoted by the support of the carry bag andcontents by the draw string 6. The result is improved temperatureretention for the object in the carry bag.

Where an object or a number of objects are inserted into the carry bagassembly, e.g. a bottle of wine, or several cans of beer, or anirregular object such as a box or packet is and the closed bag assemblyis left lying on a surface the natural tendency is for the bag assemblyto slump, due to the flexible nature of the bag materials. This alsosubstantially eliminates empty space from within the bag assembly withresultant efficient temperature retention by the object(s) within thecarry bag.

With irregular or regular shaped objects the placement of the objectwithin the bag assembly will cause the flow of pellets between the bags.For example, if a bag assembly is lying on a table a majority of thepellets surplus to those electrostatically adhering to the inner bagwill probably be in the lowermost portion of the bag assembly. Byplacing a bottle in the bag assembly the weight of the bottle and thenatural shuffling of the pellets as the bottle in positioned within thecarry bag will result in a generally uniform distribution of the pelletsaround the bottle as the pellets flow freely between the bags. Thedistribution of the pellets into a moulded consolidated sleeve aroundthe bottle is further promoted by the application of tightening pressureto the drawstring provided as part of the carry bag.

In another example, if an object was thrust into a bag assembly sittingon its closed end, with the majority of the pellets notelectrostatically adhering to the inner bag gathered at the closed end,the action of thrusting the object into the bag and the gravitationaleffect on the object will cause the pellets to flow upwardly over eachother to form a skin several pellets thick around the object. Thecapacity of the pellets to flow between the bags and so allow the bag toadapt to accommodate objects of differing shapes and sizes provides anadvantage over known containers for the defined purpose.

The foregoing example can be varied as shown in FIG. 6 to have adifferent shape to that of the example illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5whilst having the same physical characteristics.

I claim:
 1. An insulated carry bag with substantially no resistance tomanual reformation from a substantially cylindrical shape which is thenormal expanded configuration of the carry bag to a shape correspondingto that of an article or an aggregation of articles housed in the carrybag, said carry bag comprising an outer bag part made of flexible sheetmaterial and of generally cylindrical shape when expanded and which isclosed at one end and open at the other end, an inner bag part ofgenerally cylindrical shape when expanded and which is closed at one endand open at the other end, the inner bag part being smaller in diameterand shorter in length than the outer bag part and the perimeters of theopen ends of the inner and outer bag parts being joined to form a mouthfor the carry bag and the only connection between the outer and innerbag parts, drawstring closure, thermal insulating material inparticulate form being provided in the hollow region defined by theouter bag part and inner bag part, the quantity of said particulatebeing at least sufficient to form a layer of insulation over theexterior surface of the inner bag part when it is expanded tocylindrical shape but less than the difference in volume of the regionbetween the expanded form of the inner and outer bag parts.
 2. A carrybag as claimed in claim 1 wherein the insulating material and at leastthe material from which the inner bag part is made are capable ofmaintaining a static electric surface charge sufficient to cause theinsulating material to adhere to the inner bag part.
 3. A carry bag asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the insulating material is comprised ofrandom sized spherical beads of foamed polystyrene.
 4. A carry bag asclaimed in claim 1 including an intermediate liner between the inner andouter bag parts, said liner having a shape similar to the inner andouter bag parts and being larger than the inner bag part and smallerthan the outer bag part and having an open end secured to the open endsof the inner and outer bag parts;said insulation material being disposedbetween the inner and intermediate bag parts and between theintermediate and outer bag parts.